This was a land bereft of supernatural power.
A world where so-called spells, spiritual energy, and divine abilities simply did not exist.
Throughout Its endless years of existence, power had been as natural as breathing, and laws as extendable as limbs.
Yet here, everything had returned to the most primal, most fundamental level of matter and energy.
"So... that's how it is..."
With that thought, It focused even more intently on sensing Earth's countless forms of life.
From bacteria stubbornly surviving around deep-sea hydrothermal vents to vines competing for sunlight in vast rainforests.
From roots searching for moisture in the desert to seeds waiting beneath ice and snow for spring.
And humans, who built cities, explored the starry sea, and possessed complex emotions and intelligence...
They did not rely on the energy of heaven and earth. Instead, they relied on the most basic sunlight, water, and air, as well as knowledge and tools passed down through generations, and had likewise created a magnificent epic of civilization.
They had likewise displayed the tenacity and brilliance inherent in life itself.
At that moment, much of the exhaustion and confusion brought by the Tree of Life's long wandering seemed to have been washed away by the unique aura of this blue planet.
Time flew by. Sixteen years had quietly passed since the day the Tree of Life had descended upon the blue planet called Earth.
It had not arrived in a world-shaking manner. Instead, It had cautiously merged into the bloodline of an ordinary yet kind-hearted couple, taking form within them.
On a spring night of misty rain and apricot blossoms, in a hospital in a quiet little town in the Jiangnan water country, a baby boy named Lin Ze'an came into the world with a loud, clear cry.
"Lin" was his